A

Artist Shop Spotlight: The Cabin Supply Co.

Whether you’re an avid hiker or prefer enjoying the great outdoors from the comfort of your own couch while watching Planet Earth, you can never have enough outdoorsy tees. And The Cabin Supply Co. is an Artist Shop with designs that make us want to get out and take a hike.

His designs fit right in with the vibes of ND Tank and Ross Zietz, and he’s quickly become one of our go-tos to satisfy the need for hand-lettering and outdoorsy goodness.

We talked to The Cabin Supply Co. about that name, whether he’s hiked to any of the Lord of the Rings areas surrounding his home in New Zealand, and about his own love for nature. Check out what he said below, and be sure to check out his shop!

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 1.35.57 PM


Tell us a little bit about yourself! What do you do for a living? For fun? Favorite kind of pizza?

I am a Scottish graphic designer living in New Zealand. I moved here over six years ago to spend another winter working a ski season, ended up working four ski seasons, then got a design job and stayed for good. I love it here; it’s where I first really fell in love with the outdoors, it really feels like it’s all just on your door step here. My life is pretty much split with working my day job/Cabin Supply Co. business/adventuring.

Other than that, I live in Wellington, which I consider the food capital of New Zealand, so I spend a lot of time checking out new places to eat. I also spend way more time than I should looking at pictures of cabins on Instagram and Pinterest.

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 1.09.15 PM
“Let’s Get High”

Where did the name “The Cabin Supply Co.” come from? 

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 1.07.23 PM
“Take a Hike”

I thought about the name for quite a long time. I originally was going to go with something more explorer/adventure based, but my ultimate dream is to own a cabin in the woods and I really wanted to somehow have that in mind when working on my future business – a sort of never-lose-sight-of-your-goal type thing. And to me, cabins are always associated with adventure so I felt it worked really well. It’s hard coming up with a name and brand for yourself because you’re always so overly critical of it, but I’m still pretty happy with it.

 

I think I already know the answer, but are you a big outdoorsy person?

I sure am. I’ve always been into travel, and seeing new places, going on road trips etc, but it wasn’t until I came to New Zealand that I really got into hiking. There’s an amazing system of backcountry huts here and it opened up a world of multi-day hikes to go to places that most people don’t go to, and to see amazing views that most people won’t see for themselves. That really appeals to me.

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 1.34.14 PM
“Roam Free”

Seeing as you live in New Zealand and your designs have an outdoorsy vibe, I have to ask…have you done a Lord of the Rings hike?

Great question! I haven’t actually done a Lord of the Rings hike as such, but I have done a Lord of the Rings horseback tour, which my partner got me for Xmas a couple of years ago. It was the first and only time I’ve ever been on a horse!!

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 1.11.52 PM
“Go Wild”

I have also been to a few filming locations (I’m not even that big a fan). Rivendell is a 20 minute drive from where I live and is actually a really nice local regional park. There are other filming locations that are a 10 minute walk from my house, and the Weta Studios, who worked on all the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies are two suburbs over from where I live. LOTR is everywhere here!

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 1.13.41 PM
“Happy Camper”

That’s amazing. Back to your shop! How did you learn to do hand-lettering? 

I work with a combination of fonts and hand lettering to get the design I want. I start off with my idea and work with the size of each word and how they can work and interact with each other. I work between my sketchbook and my computer. I have a long list of ideas on my phone that I jot down while I’m usually out hiking.

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 1.10.46 PM
“Snuggle is Real”

What made you decide to open an Artist Shop!

I have been a huge fan of Threadless for years (I have quite a big Threadless t-shirt collection back in Scotland) and when I saw that you guys were starting up Artist Shops, I jumped at the chance to involve The Cabin Supply Co. To me, it’s the most established online t-shirt site and to be able to be part of it is great.

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 1.15.28 PM
“On Top of Mountains”

Is the forest in the cover photo of your Artist Shop from a place you’ve been?

It is indeed. I took this photograph in a stunning alpine forrest in Olympic National Park, WA. I was on a road trip from Seattle to LA with a very good friend of mine stopping at national parks and camping all the way down the coast, this was our first hike of the trip. It was an amazing adventureScreen Shot 2016-08-23 at 1.35.51 PM

What’s the greatest outdoor adventure – or moment – you’ve ever had?

Hmmm, there are so many! One of my favourite adventures was earlier this year when I went on my first overseas multi-day hike in Wilson’s Prom, Australia. So many unbelievably stunning beaches! And we ended the trip with a stay in a cabin where we sat on the porch and watched a mum and baby wombat hang out.

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 1.33.35 PM
“Go Camping”

Anything you’re currently excited about?

There are a couple of things I’m currently excited about, the first is that in two weeks I finish my 1 year contract at my corporate design job, so I will be working on The Cabin Supply Co. full time, and the second HUGE thing I’m excited about is that me and my partner are heading off on our biggest adventure yet! In November we are hiking the length of New Zealand! It’s called the ‘Te Araroa Trail’ (Maori for ‘the long pathway’) and is a 3000 km (1864 miles) 5 month long hike! We are EXTREMELY excited! It’s by far our biggest challenge to date.

 

Open your own artist shop now!

CategoriesSpotlights
Avatar photo
Carlyn Hill

Dad joke aficionado, cartoonist, & contributor for sites like HelloGiggles and The Mary Sue by night. When I'm not writing or drawing, you can find me in my cave of a room hanging out with my boyfriend, Netflix.